The pressure pixel—unit of life?

Life is based on the co-ordinated and efficient function of the molecular nanomachines that biochemists call enzymes. Popular models of these machines are miniature anthropomorphic devices, which function in empty space under conditions bearing little resemblance to the watery subcellular world. The concepts of force and work applicable in our macroscopic world are transposed down to the molecular level where the chaos of thermal energies dominate. Despite four decades of intense research effort, the thermodynamic explanation of water-protein interactions—the first level of living matter—is as remote as ever, because the disruptive thermal energies still remain dominant in these theories today. In this work, it is proposed that the important feature of the condensed medium is the formation of clusters, resulting from the bonded state of the molecules. This new view is the basis of the wave model of liquid structure. It is these water clusters, not single molecules, that are responsible for macroscopic pressure. Pressure is exerted on a size scale down to that of a single cluster, the hierarchical level defined by the ‘pressure pixelʹ. Below this size, tension between molecules prevails. This tension explains the stability and co-ordinated movement of the subcellular world, where theories based on random collisions fail. It also explains the coherence displayed by the cell in its ability to act as a unit, rather than a collection of independent processes predicted by statistical theories.